How you can improve your head & neck posture

The head might follow the body, the body might follow the head?

For every inch the head moves it increases in weight and leads to stress and compensations elsewhere.
Forward head posture leads to chronic pain, numbness in the arms and hands, improper breathing, and pinched nerves.

But that’s not all. It can also affect our mood.
Poor posture also has been shown to affect depression, memory, stress response, self-esteem, body image, and even brain function and behaviour. Click here to see article

Here’s a one month challenge for you, who dares to take a photo and post the results?

Can you stand with your back to the wall and does your head touch the wall without tilting back?

If not, then turn the test into a gentle exercise to help correct your head position.

Gently draw the chin in so that the back of the neck lengthens towards the wall. If it is really hard then maybe start by doing 3 reps of 10 secs, see if you can challenge yourself to do this daily and build until you can hold for 1 minute 2-3 times each day.

If you want to see if this improves your posture ask someone to take a photo of you side ways on and then take another a month into doing this exercise.

Small changes can create big benefits to your whole body.

The effects of horse-riding simulator exercise and Kendall exercise on the forward head posture

This article is very interesting…..

Perhaps those of us with forward head posture need to take up horse riding!

From our Facebook post: A little exercise and also a comment about horse riding and posture.

There was a fab comment on that Facebook post about how the spine moves in riding, so here is my little addition.

Once you can start to use the muscles to hold a static position of the head and it feels comfortable and easy – (If you don’t have a horse), you could sit and bounce on a stability ball.

Your aim is to engage the muscles like you did when trying to draw the back of your head to the wall.

What you will notice is that if you do this, instead of the head flailing around, there needs to be a reactive lengthening/opening at the front of the neck, so that the head and ribcage and the rest of the spine all react to the motion.

Pilates for swimming

Swimming involves a combination of strength and mobility, especially around the shoulders, as well as good stroke technique.

Shoulder inflexibility and poor upper body posture can have a real impact on your stroke technique and is a common cause of shoulder injuries.

As a competitive swimmer this can significantly shorten your sporting career.

The upper back (thoracic spine) has a huge impact on shoulder mobility and for butterfly in particular you need to have strength and integrated mobility throughout the whole spine.

A strong, stable pelvis and core to connect the upper and lower limbs is also essential, along with joint flexibility in the feet and ankles.

Swimming is among the most popular low impact fitness activities.
Swimming is excellent cardiovascular exercise and a great sport to add as part of a cross fitness-training program.

If swimming is your only sport however we would strongly advise you add some land based form of exercise for bone loading.

No matter how much coaching you have if your body doesn’t have the right combination of mobility and stability to create an efficient stroke you will struggle to achieve the stroke you are training for.
Whether you are a recreational swimmer or competitive swimmer Pilates exercises to improve your body mechanics will make your stroke more efficient and effective.

We offer Pilates classes in: Suffolk, Norfolk & Essex

Norfolk: Diss, Harleston

Suffolk: Aldeburgh, Acton, Clare, Walpole, Long Melford

Essex: Great Bently, St Osyth,

Click here to contact us for more information or here to find a class near you

Pilates for running

Running and jogging get a lot of bad press, it’s bad for your knees, some saying that 80% of runners get injured.

Most injuries are reportedly caused by over use (overloading something too often), but could this be misuse rather than overuse?

Runners knee (patellofemoral pain syndrome) is very common.

Some other common running problems are:

Achilles tendonitis (inflammation of the tendon)

Plantar fasciitis (pain in the sole of the foot)

Shin splints (pain in the front of the lower leg)

Illiotibial band syndrome (pain running down the outside of the leg)

If one muscle is a little to tight and another is a bit weak, then perhaps they are not working together to align the bones, keeping the joint spaces optimal.

If the soft tissue and muscles are not working to distribute the tension evenly, then another area gets to much strain or tension instead, leading to the pain you experience.

This can lead to a whole series of problems, including those listed above.

I run, not far and not fast, but I run. With the correct training programme, that includes progression specific to you, exercises to strengthen your core, your hips, legs and back and a stretching and self massage programme, most people can learn to run.

Best of all, they can learn to do this pain free! At home – replace your trainers every 400-600 miles.

Do not increase your programme by more than 10% at a time, your bones and joints often need more time to train than your cardiovascular system.

The most common mistake people make is to run: to far, to fast to soon, they experience pain and decide running is not good for them.

Remember to stretch when you finish.

“No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everybody on the couch.”

We offer Pilates classes in: Suffolk, Norfolk & Essex

Norfolk: Diss, Harleston

Suffolk: Aldeburgh, Acton, Clare, Walpole, Long Melford

Essex: Great Bently, St Osyth,

Click here to contact us for more information or here to find a class near you

Exercises and Tips to help you

Awareness & relaxation exercise

In a world where we are constantly on the go, most of us forget about the one thing that has to serve for around 80 years, our body.

Giving yourself 10 minutes of constructive rest can be a real boost to the system. It can feel like 8 hours sleep, allow the mind to clear, bring attention to areas that might be under to much stress or tension.

Find somewhere quiet and a chair, once seated just breathe: In through your nose and exhale through your mouth.

Shut your eyes

Where does your in breath go?Are there areas where you feel tension?

As you exhale, make it last a little longer.

Give yourself a few breaths, this should have a calming affect and give you the time to focus on all areas.

How tall or short do you feel, compression or length?

Once you feel ready make sure both feet are flat on the floor

What do you notice about each leg,

Do they feel the same?

How do they rest – do they feel light or heavy?

Lightly press into your feet

How do your muscles and joints feel?

Focus on your breath again – as you breathe in let your legs and muscles rest and as you breathe out gently push into your feet and feel that you are connecting through your ankle, knee and hip. In your mind, visualise standing with ease.

Your legs are strong and the front of the hips open and free.

Bring some attention to your pelvis

Can you find your sits bones, can you find your pubic bone?

With long easy breaths can you rock between sitting bones and pubic bone.

Notice how the spine reacts and feels. If it feels ok then as you rock slowly and gently back and forth move a little more, allow the reaction and wave of movement in the spine to go a little further.

Notice how when you are on the sits bones, the spine tends to be longer, you are more upright, less slumped.

Notice how if you allow it the breast bone, rib cage and head also come up, with very little effort.

Now find both sits bones, can you sit evenly on them both as if you are pouring your upper body weight into the the tips of the bones, meet this with the connection of lightly pressing into your feet.

Take a few long easy breaths, you want as little effort as possible, it should be more a focus, a visualisation.

Bring your focus to your shoulders and arms, you can let them drape, rest on arm of chair or on your knees

How do they feel, tense, relaxed, tight, even?

Think about breathing wide and deep into the rib cage, feel the ribs expand out to the sides.

Do you notice anything happening in the neck or shoulders?

If you feel tension in the neck, take a little more time to feel the expansion low in the rib cage, the shoulders should respond to the breath, widening and lifting just a touch.

Can you breathe into rib cage to feel each rib expand out, right up into the armpit.

If it is easy one side either take a little time to do a few more breaths or stretch the tight side by leaning away, reaching the arm up and take a breath or two.

When you release try the expansion of each rib again.

Take a moment to notice how your back and shoulders feel if you slump forward, notice what your normal is.

There is nothing wrong with slouching as long as you can come out of it again with ease.

Find your sitting bones again

Use the motion of rocking to find the length in the spine and the lift of the sternum,

Allow the weight of the upper body to pour down into the sitting bones and meet this with the gentle push from the feet.

Balance the head, if you allow the head to move forward slowly, can you feel it gets heavier?

Take a moment or two to find the place that the head feels the lightest.

You might feel other things happening, you are needing to work some muscles a little harder,

Can you reduce this work to minimum whilst keeping the head as light as possible.

Take 10 long deep breaths. Add a count onto each in breath and two onto each out breath. Try to keep a connection from feet to pelvis to head at all times, but with each breath reduce the effort.

What things do you notice about your body and mind now?

“A body free from nervous tension and fatigue is the ideal shelter provided by nature for housing a well balanced mind, fully capable of successfully meeting all the complex problems of modern living” – Joseph H Pilates

We offer Pilates classes in: Suffolk, Norfolk & Essex

Norfolk: Diss, Harleston

Suffolk: Aldeburgh, Acton, Clare, Walpole, Long Melford

Essex: Great Bently, St Osyth,

Click here to contact us for more information or here to find a class near you

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